It’s that time again, Springy fans! The Development and Product teams have been working hard to bring you a boatload of new and updated features. These features will be live in all regions by the end of next week, August 14.
We’re also switching things up a bit and posting the biggest news here on the blog, with more complete release notes over on the new Springshare Lounge. This approach will ensure that these posts stay short, but that if you would like to view the entire contents of a release, it’s still totally possible! Once release notes are published, we’ll add links to the bottom of this post.
LibAnswers
Microsoft Teams for Screen Sharing in LibChat
We’re excited to announce that this release brings Microsoft Teams integration to LibAnswers! In addition to our existing screen sharing integration with Zoom, we’re adding a new option in our screen sharing library for Microsoft Teams. This integration will make it possible for LibChat users to seamlessly launch Microsoft Teams meetings directly with patrons or other internal LibChat users directly via the LibChat operator dashboard, just by clicking the “Request Screenshare” button.
Similar to this integration in LibCal, you’ll need to work with your institution’s Microsoft Teams administrator to register an app for LibAnswers and grant the required access permissions. Once the app is registered, your LibAnswers admin will add the Application ID and Secret into LibAnswers (via Admin > LibChat > Screenshare), then LibAnswers users will be able to authorize the integration via their edit account screen and begin using Microsoft Teams for screen sharing during chats.
New API v1.1 with OAuth + POST API!
With this release, we’re also thrilled to usher in a new generation of LibAnswers APIs; our 1.1 APIs are here, and they’re bringing enhanced security and new abilities for creating content in your LibAnswers system from third party sources and forms!
To form the base for these new capabilities, we’re introducing a new 1.1 version of our existing APIs. For enhanced security, this new generation of APIs require OAuth Authorization headers in order to return data. Once you’ve generated an OAuth token (via Admin > Widgets and APIs > API Authentication) and granted it the desired permissions, you’ll send it along with your API request via an Authorization header. This ensures that the API is only being used for authorized users/purposes – and this is a critical piece of the puzzle for our way more exciting next feature…
LibAnswers now offers POST APIs for new ticket creation! This means it is now possible to generate new tickets into LibAnswers from non-LibAnswers forms. This could mean anything from a feedback form you maintain on your website to a problem report form found in your catalog. We’ve included 2 handy APIs to make this possible: a new GET API for retrieving a queue’s form field data (so it’s easy to match data from your non-LibAnswers form with LibAnswers form fields), and a POST API for actually generating the tickets. To get started with these new APIs, head to Admin > Widgets and APIs > API Endpoints v1.1.
LibCal
We’re super excited to bring local timezones to the public-facing side of LibCal Events and Appointments! Users will be able to choose what timezone calendars and events should display in.
Also, stay tuned! we’re bringing OAuth to Zoom in LibCal. We are working through the application approval process with Zoom and will announce availability of this updated security feature as soon as we can.
We also have some requested updates to LibCal Seats & Spaces!
- There’s now an option for bookings to be automatically cancelled if the person has not checked in within a specific time frame after the booking start time.
- A new contact tracing report will be available in a new tab in Spaces. Enter a patron name or email into the Contract Tracer to view bookings in the same Seat or Space for the 24 – 96 hours following the booking.
- There are new reports to track peak occupancy at specific times of day, cross-referenced with days of the week. Go to Spaces > Occupancy Data to see these reports.
- Want to get patron feedback on the Seats reservations/use process? You can now add a LibWizard survey link to the ‘Check Out’ confirmation page and schedule a follow-up email to send after the booking.
- Improvements to the public patron booking experience and new reservation page search selections.
- More detail will be included in the ICS file for bookings such as the confirmation code for check ins when enabled and the cancellation link.
LibInsight
Just one small thing to share here for LibInsight: we have added the capability to hide columns in COUNTER 5 usage reports. Just need to see a few metrics? No problem! Filter out the columns that you’re not interested in. Analyze your COUNTER 5 E-Resources dataset, then choose the Usage tab from Journals, Databases, Books, or Others > Titles > Choose a platform.
Hi all! This integration with Teams and Zoom looks great. One thing I’m wondering about is if the patron must login into Teams (have a MS account) to experience screen sharing? I’m assuming they would have to download the Teams client or the Zoom app. I ask because we have students and fac/staff divided into two groups/domains. The result is that we cannot collaborate with students in Teams, sharepoint, etc.
Hi David! Patrons/students shouldn’t need an MS account to join a Teams meeting. According to Microsoft’s help docs, they can launch the meeting in their browser using only their name: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/join-a-teams-meeting-078e9868-f1aa-4414-8bb9-ee88e9236ee4.
These steps align with our “Help with Joining a Screensharing Session using Microsoft Teams” FAQ, too: https://ask.springshare.com/libchat-help/faq/2702.
I hope this helps!
Springy Laura
Ah! This certainly helps! It didn’t occur to me to look at Teams documentation about this. Sorry you had to do that. Thank you!
You’re welcome! Glad I could help. 🙂